Hair wants to shine, but falls flat

REVIEW: Hair at the Peck School of the Arts, UW-Milwaukee

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee closes its 2008-2009 mainstage series with the once-revolutionary rock musical, Hair. Parallels between the protests of the late 1960s and today can certainly be made and indeed are what make Hair still relevant. UWM makes a valiant effort to imbue the patriotic rebellion at the heart of the 1960s to today, but ultimately the production falls flat.

When James Rado and Gerome Ragni began writing Hair in 1964, they were influenced by the people they ran into in the streets. University students were dropping out and burning their draft cards. People used copious amounts of drugs and grew out their hair. When premiering off-Broadway in October of 1967, Hair was popular with audiences but received mostly lifeless critical reviews.

The show highlighted and examined major issues that America still struggles with in 2009: Poverty, political corruption, sexism, racism and war among some of them. Even though Hair defined the “rock musical” genre and illustrated drug use, its message was actually quite serious and intellectual. But the players at UWM seem to have trouble paying homage to these great American social issues. On stage, actors seem more intent on portraying various stages of being stoned. Illegal drug use pervades the entire show, but it here it seemed to overtake all other aspects. The heart of Hair resides in its examination and rejection of the status quo. One expects a certain amount of organized chaos in this play, but UWM’s staging seemed more on the side of unorganized.

Hair is heavy on song and light on actual story line. A successful production should therefore need awesome singers — or lacking that — actors with decent voices who can sell a song. Very few had great voices and not many were really able to sell it. Also troubling was the fact that many singers were not loud enough even with microphones taped to their cheeks. However, notable performances were found in the back to back songs “Black Boys” and “White Boys.” Led by Marques Causey playing the character of Hud, “Colored Spade” was another high point.

UWM’s BFA program is relatively new and the department as a whole is obviously still struggling to put up large-cast productions with a high degree of quality. Even though Hair falls short of expectations, it is certain that everyone involved will learn from the process.

Hair runs through April 26 in the UWM Mainstage Theatre. Contact: (414) 229-4308 or arts.uwm.edu/theatre

For venue, tickets, showtimes and more, visit Footlights Milwaukee online.